Thomas Crecquillon (c.1510-1557), a Flemish composer belongs to the fourth generation of Flemish/Netherlands composers. Unfortunately very little is known about his life. His place and date of birth are unknown, but he is certainly born in the region known at that time as the Netherlands, the Low Countries. He could have held positions in Cologne, Regensburg, Tournai and Antwerp some time before 1539. Probably from 1540 up to 1548 Crecquillon was maître de la Chappelle, singer, chaplain and the unofficial court composer of Charles V at Brussels. On the other hand it could be that Cornelis Canis (c.1510-1561) was the successor of Nicolas Gombert (c.1500-1556) as the Emperor’s maestro di capilla in April-August 1546. But there is some contradiction in the found documents. Nevertheless Crecquillon held an important position at the court of Charles V at Brussels from 1540 -1555. Crecquillon retired in 1555 and his name is no longer found in the records of the court since 1557. From 1555 to 1757 he was Prebandary or Canon in Béthune. A successor in Béthune was appointed in March 1557.
As a famous musician Crecquillon was appointed prebendary/canon in various Flemish towns, Louvain (1550), Namur (1552), Termonde (Dendermonde) (1552) and finally in Béthune (1555). Crecquillon didn’t left his home region for other parts of Europe so many of his colleagues did. Most likely but uncertain he died in 1557 in Béthune, probably as a victim of the serious outbreak of plague in Béthune that year. The famous printers Pierre Phalèse (of Louvain) and Tielman Susato (of Antwerp) published more music by him than by any other composer, which shows the extent of his reputation at that time. From 1542 publication of his works is done especially by Susato in several anthologies. He was a master of polyphony and from his contemporaries he was the most representative with Gombert (c.1595-c.1557) and Jacob Clement (c.1510-c.1556) between Josquin (c.1440-1521) and Lassus (1532-1594). Most of Crecquillon’s work was written on demand for both secular and sacred reasons. See for instance his motet Andreas Christi famulus (for eight voices) which was written for the 1546 meeting of the Order of the Golden Fleece, of which Saint Andrew ('Andreas' of the title) was the patron saint. This meeting probably took place in Utrecht. Crecquillon wrote more than 100 motets, 16 Masses, 200 Chansons, 5 French psalms and Lamentation cycles. Many of his chansons were arranged for instruments, especially lute. He is most distinguished as a chanson composer, but his sacred work is considered too as his most significant work. Crecquillon often matched musical to verbal expression in using dissonance to create fine tension and in his sacred work he pervade in a real splendid way imitation and polyphonic complexity like his Flemish/Netherlands contemporaries did.